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FIE. BUTTON.

VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTH.

APPLICATION FILED MAYI. 1916.

1,307,345. Patented-June 24, 1919.

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FRANK BUTTO1\T, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

VEHICLE-CONTROL SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24,1919.

Application filed May 1, 1916. Serial as. 94,533.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK E. BUTTON,

a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of tion of suitable braking mechanism if the operator of the vehicle fails to-stop or reduce the speed of the train when traffic conditions in advance are dangerous or when approaching a portion of the trackway where the speed of the vehicle should not 'ex ceed a predetermined limit,

()ne of the objects of my provide a vehicle control system by means of which the critical, speed, which should not be exceeded at difi'er'ent parts of the .trackway or under different traflic cond1- tions, may be varied; or in other words to provide a multl-speed control system.'

Another obgect of the lnvention 1s to provide a system in which the maximum speed at which the vehicle may travel under clear traffic conditions, as wellas under dangerous traflic conditions, is limited and the automatic train stopping mechanism will operate if either of these two limits is exceeded. v

Another object of the invention is to provide a cab indicator which will inform the operator of the critical or maximum speed at which the train may travel with safety at different points along the trackway. Other objects of the invention'will'be apparent from the detailed description hereinafter to follow-and from tlie ..operation thereof, whiclrwill be particularly pointed out.

diagranunatically one embodiment of a vehicle control system embodying the features of my invention.

In the system vided into blocks which are designated a, b and 0, the track rails being properly insulated to form the blocks as is thevusual practice. Each block is equipped with the usual closed track circuit battery 1 and a track relay 2, the track rcinvention is to In the drawing, the figure represents shown, the trackway is diconsisting of a" lay being energized when the block is unoccupied, as is shown by the track relay 2 for the block 0. Arranged along one'side of the track rails are a pluralitylof ramps 5, 6 and 7 ,the ramps 6 and 7 being arranged s de by side in advance of a block entrance a distance suflicient to permit the brakes to stop the car 'or train before it enters the block, while the ramp 5 is arranged at a distance to the rear of the two ramps Gand 7 to permit the speed of a train to be reduced by the operator to'a'determined speed before the vehicle passes over these ramps.

Arranged adjacent each set of ramps is a contact rail, which rails have been designated 8 and 9,and it'is obvious that these contact rails and ramps, while shown separately in the present diagrammatic drawing, may constitute a single part.

The contact rails 8 and 9 are connected together by a wire 10, while the contact rail 9 is connected to a feeder 11 through the armature l2 of a track relay 2, thecircuit from the feeder 11 passing through wire 13, armature 12, contact 14, wire 15, resistance 16' to the contact rail 9-. The resistance 16 is differentfor different blocks so um the strength of current which energizes the contact rails 8 and 9 is varied accordingly,

7 which is an important feature of the invention and its purpose will be'olearly brought out in the operation of the system.

Referring now to the parts carried in thecab of the engine or other'vehicle, the mechanism for applying the brakes is not shown, but the air brake valve is shownand'desig} nated 17 This air brake valve 17 is actuated by v a weighted lever 18 which is held in position bya trip lever 18', which is, set by hand and held in engagement with the weighted lever by. a spring 20. The tripping device for the trip lever comprises a solenoid 19 hereinafter referred to as the airbrake solenoid which is provided with a weighted core 19. VVhe-n the solenoid is energized thiscore is raised out of engagement with the trip leverbut upon deenergization of the solenoid, it drops and forcesthe trip lever out of engagement with the weighted lever permitting the latter to fall and actuate the air' brake valve.

The air brake solenoid 19 is normally energized by a closed circuit upon the \'elncle which starts at battery 21 and passes by means of wires 22. 22 to the solenoid 19, then through wire 23 to a pivoted arm fit with w: 10

of conductive material, through the arm 24 to a similar arm 25, thenby means of wires 26 and 26 back to the battery. Thiscircuit remains closed so long as the arms 24 v and are in engagement with each other,

but upon disengagement of the arms, the circuit will be broken and the air brakes automatically applied. The arm 25 is pivotally mounted as at 27 and its up and down movement is controlled by the speed of the vehicle by means of'a governor 28 mounted upon a shaft 28 which is driven'through gearing 29. The governor 28 is of the usual ball type and moves a sleeve 30 upwardly and downwardly upon the shaft 28. This sleeve 30 passes through an elongated slot or opening in the arm 25, and is provided with a collar or flange 31 at its lower end which is adapted to'engage the' arm 25 to move it upwardly against thegtension of a spring 33.- The aperturethrough which the sleeve 30 passes in the'arm 25 is preferably provided with an insulating bushing 34 to prevent these parts from being electrically connected together.

The arm 24 is pivotally mounted upon a shaft 35- a1 d,l1as a hub 36 surrounding its pivotal: poii- A portion of the periphery of. .th. *1 serrated to provide teeth 37 I A a detent lever 38' is adapted to B1'1gage, the lever being pulled into engagement with the teeth by a spring 39 so that if the free end of the arm 24 is moved'up- Wardly, the detent lever 38 will ride over the teeth 37 and hold the free end in its uppermost position until the detent lever 38 is moved out of engagement with the teeth 37, at which time the arm 24 will-move downwardly under its own weight; The en gagement. of the detent lever 38 with the teeth 37 is controlled by means of a trip arm 40, which is pivoted upon a shaft 41 I in a position to strike the ramp 7, as't'he car passes over it, the engagement of the trip arm with the ramp '7 moving the free end ofthearm 40 toward the right';as,viewed in'the figure and causing the cuifvedjupper end of the arm. to engage a projection 'upon the detent lever 38 to move the ;la tter-out of engagement with the teeth lAfter the trip arm passes over the ramp 7, it s returned to its normal position by. centralizing springs 42.

An arm 43 is mounted co-axially with the arm 24 upon the shaft 35, which arm is of 55a similar construction and has teeth 44 upon the periphery of its hub which are engaged by a detent lever 45 which is controlled by a trip arm 46adapted to engage the ramps 5 and 6 along the trackway, The position of the arm 43 is controlled by a speed limit device which consists of a solenoid-48 actuating a core 49 to whiclris attached at its lower end a rod 50. The movement of Lhecore '4 is regulated by anadjustable spring 51, one end of which bears against a stationary guide 53 for the stem rod 50, and the other end against a washer which may be adjusted by a nut 55 threaded upon the lower end of the stem rod 50. They strength of the solenoid 48 and the spring 51 are adjusted with respect to each other so that the upward movement of the rod 50 willb'e proportional to the strength of current passing throughthe solenoid, such devices being' common in different forms of electric regulators.

The core 49"controls the position of the arm 43 since the core 49 passes through an' elongated aperture or opening in the same, andis provided with "a collar or enlargement .56,WhlCh engages the arm 43 to move upwardly therewith. The core 49 is prefing out the detent lever 38, engages the arm 43. The arm 43 is provided with. a layer of insulating material at the point at which the extension 58 engages this arm to prevent the electrical connection of these parts.

Connected to the free end of the arm 43 is a contact blade 60 which engages any one of a plurallty of contacts 62 which are connected in parallel with a sectional resistance 63 so that by the movement of the contact blade along thecontacts, the resistance will be gradually cut into and out of circuit. This resistance is in series with a cab indicator 65 in a circuit which starts from battery 21 and passes throughwire 26 wire 67 to the cab indicator 65 and then through wire 68 to arm 43, contact blade 60 through all or a part-of the-resistance 63 depending upoiafthe position of the arm, through wires "69*ai1tl 22 back to the batterv21. The cab 'iin'di'cator .65 is constructed similarly to the ordinary type of voltmeter so that the strength of current passing therethrough 'will causeits pointer for needle 70 to take a position corresponding to the" strength of that current, -the "scale "upo rff ivliich the pointer reads beingcalibrateddii m'i'lesper hour. p The coil 48 of the'speed trolled by a circuit comp'r cont-act shoe 71 which is con-nectedby wire72 to the coil 48 and thence by a" wire to the ground; the contactshoe 71 beingj a clapted t o engage with the contact rails 8,9,"et cL, as

the car passes: ovfe -the same.

The operation of the system described. Assuming that the parts are in the position shown; that-is, with thec'ab ind'icatorindicat-ing a maximum speed of 35 milesper hour at which speed the train vis l s will no'w be running and the train is approaching the block cvwhich, is clear of other trains, but due to a curve in the block the maximum speed at which the train may block even under'clear traffic conditions, is 25 miles an hour. As the vehicle or car approaches the block, the contact shoe 71 will engage the contact rail 8 and since as before described, the contact rail 8 is. energized from the feeder 11 through the relay armature 12 and resistance 16, the engagement of the contact shoe with this contact rail will cause an energization of the coil 48. .T he resistance 16 for block 0 is so adjusted that the strength of current which asses through the coil 48 of the speed limit evice, will pull thefcore 49 to a position corresponding to 25' 'rni 'es per hour. When therefore the trip l ai"-i ii-' -46 engages-the ramp 5 and throws the detent-arm 45 out of engagement with the teeth- 44, the arm 43 will fall until it is engaged by collar 56. The'contact rail 8 is longer than the ramp 5 and the shoe 71 therefore remains in engagement with the contact rail 8 after the trip arm haspassed V out of engagement with the ramp which Wlll -;permit the detent 45 to again engage the arm '43 and hold it in a position corresponding to the determined speed, which in 'the example. taken is 25 miles per hour. After'the shoe 71 passes out of engagement contact rail 8, the core 49 drops to its normal position The position of the arm 43 controls the cab indicator 65, the circuit passing through a. portion of the resistance 63 and contact arm 60, as before described, and the strength of the current passing through the indicator will move the pointer to a pomiles per hour. The engineer is therefore informed of the speed to which he must reduce the speed of the train before entering the block 0 or before passing the contact rail 9 and the ramps 6 and 7. Let us assume upon reaclnng' the contact rail9 and the ramps speed .of the train has been'reduced to the required speed, when'the car or over the contact rail 9, the contact shoe 71 will engage the contact rail 9 to energize the coil 48 of the speed limit device as before, but since the resistance16 is in. series With both the contact rails 8 and 9, and since the drop in potential between the contacts 8 and 9 is negligible, the strength of current which passes through the coil 48 is practically the same as passed through 1t when the car or train ran over 'the contact rail 8. The 130- sition to which the core 49 is drawn is therefore practically the same as before, so that the position of changed when the trip arm 46 engages the ramp '6 to throw the 'detent 45 outof engageahe t-"with the: teeth 44, since the collar 56 en-be in a position to support the arm be run in this.

' permit this gagement with the arm 24, so t 'lar 31- controlled by with the a 6 and 7 that the train passes the arm, 43 'will remain unl.he trip'arm 4O is also actuated by its. I

I the speed of the train 43. However, slnce has been reduced to governor 28 will have moved the sleeve 30 downwardly a sufficient distance to bring the collar 31 sufficiently below the arm 25.to

arm to follow and remain in encircuit through the air brake solenoid 19 will not be interrupted to cause an actuation of the air brakes,

If, however, the speed of the train has not been reduced to the required speed, the colthe governor will prevent the arm 25 from remaining in engagement with the arm 24 as it drops and therefore the circuit controlling the air brake mechanism will be broken and the brakes will be applied Assuming that the speed of the train has been reduced to the required speed, the train then enters block 0 and will pass through the block under the control of the motorman until the set of contact rails and ramps arereached for the next block.

It will be seen that upon reaching the next set of contact rails and ramps, the strength of current .passing through 'the contact rail may be regulated by providing the proper resistance between the contact rails and the feeder so that the determined speed [at which the vehicle must pass through the next block may be increased to, say, forty miles per hour, or may be reduced to, say, fifteen miles per hour, even though there is no train in the next block.

Assuming now that the train is approaching the block cand' another train, the presence of the train will 'deenergize the track relay 2, which will cause the armature 12 of the track relay to break the circuit which energizes the contact rails 8 and 9. Assuming now that a train is approaching block 0 under these conditions, when the contact shoe 71 engages the contact rail 8, the coil 48 of the speed limit device will not be energized and the arm 43 will, when the trip arm 46 is actuated, fall to its lowermost position, which may correspond to a speed of, say, five miles per hour at which speed the train is in abso-. lute control of the engineer. In this position the contact arm 60 will out in the entire resistance 63 so, passes'through the cab indicator 65 and the needle of the cab indicator will therefore be set for its smallest reading which will correspond to, say, five miles per hour. This informs the engineer at once that the block a is occupied and that 1 he should enter the 24 permittingthe required speed, the

hat the closedv this block is occupied by that the weakest current I next block at a speed of not greater than live miles per hour. If the speed of the train is brought within this limit before reaching the contact rail 9 and the ramps 6 and 7, the governor will have moved the sleeve 30 downwardly a sullicient distance to bring the collar 31 to a position in which it will permit the arm 25 to follow the arm 24 when the same is released by the engagement of the trip arm 40 with the ramp 7 so that the braking mechanism will not be actuated. A failure to bring the train to the I required speed limit \\'lll cause an actuation of the train stop mechanism as before described.

It maybe, however, that while the train is moving from contact rail 8 to contact rail 9, the train which occupies block 0 will have passed into the succeeding block permitting the relay 2 to again be energized and cause the armature 12 to close the circuit to the contact rail 9. When the train orcar therefore reaches contact rail 9, the coil 48 of the speed limit device will be'energized and will positionthe arm 43 to the correct speed for that block, as for example, twenty-five miles per hour as previously described. The cab -indicator will inforn'i the engineer of this fact and the train may proceed at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the system provides a control for the train both when tralfieconditions are clear, as well as dangerous, and the speed limit of the tram may be changed at any position along the trackway by the interposing of a set of contact rails and ramps such .as has been described. In some instances, it

' closed and the system of contact rails and ramps may be modified for different types of track systems, and it is mtended that the particular system of track c1rcu1t control described is illustrative and not limiting upon the scope of the invention.

()ther modifications of the invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art and it is intended that such modifications will come within the invention as are covered by 4 the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In combination, a railway vehicle, vehicle controlling means thereon, speed-controlled Ineans on the vehiclefor controlling fiaidvehicle controlling means, .and means spacedalong the trackway for setting said the trackway for setting said'speed-controlled means for any of a plurality of different speed limits,- and a second means along the trackway spaced from said first named means for causing said 'speed-controlled -means to operate said vehicle 0011- trolling means if the speed of the vehicle is not reduced to within the speed limit for which 4 the speed-controlled means has been set before the vehicle passes over said second named means along the trackway.

In combination, a railway vehicle, vehicle controlling means thereon, speed-controlled means for controlling said vehicle controlling'means, means spaced along the trackway with which said speed-controlled means is adapted to co-act, co-action of said speed-coi-itrolled 'means with the first of said means along the trackway setting said speed-controlled 'means for a determined speed limit, said speed-controlled means when thus set causing the actuation of the vehicle controlling means upon passing the second of said means along the trackw a y only when said train passes the second named means along the trackway at a speed greater than the speed for which said speedcontrolled means hasbeen set.

I. In combination, a railway vehicle, ve hicle controlling means thereon, means spaced along the trackway and speed-controlled means carried by said vehicle and controlled by said means along the trackway for causin the operation of aid vehicle controlling means if the speed of said vehicle is not reduced to a determined speed after passing the first of said means along the tra'clnvay and before it passes the last oi said means along the trackway.

5. In combination, a railway vehicle, ve hicle controlling means thereon, two devices spaced along the trackway controlled at least in part by trafiic conditions, and means on the vehicle including a speed-controlled device adapted to co-act with said devices along the trackway for causing the tram controlling means to act if the speed of the velucle 1n passing from one to the other of sald devlces along the trackway 1S t reduced to a'determined speed when t-raflic conditions are dangerous;

, b. In combination, a railway vehicle, "ehicle controlling means thereon, two devices along the trackway, speed-controlled. means on the vehicle for controlling said vehicle controlling means, and means cooperating with said devices along the trackway for causing said speed-controlled means to actuate said vehicle controlling means it the speed of the vehicle is not reduced to a determined speed limit before it passes the second ofsaid devices alon the trackway under one condition of trafic or to a ditterent speed limitunder a difierent condition. of trailic.

7. In combination, a railway vehicle, vehicle controlling means thereon, two devices spaced along the trackway controlled at least in part by trafiic conditions, and means on the vehicle including a speed-controlled device adapted to co-act with said devices along the trackway for causing the train controlled means to act if the speed of the vehicle in passing from one to another or- -said devices is not reduced to a determined vehicle controlling means, a speed-controlled circuit controller in said circuit,.a second circuit controller cooperating with said first named circuit controller, means normally holding saidsecond named circuit controller in aiset position, ramps spaced along the trackway for momentarily releasing said speed under one condition of tratfic or to a w difierent speed limit under a .difl'erent condition' of traffic.

8. In combination, a railway vehicle, vehicle controlling means thereon, means on the vehicle for controlling said vehicle controlling means comprising a speedcontrolled means and a speed limit device capable of being set for any one of a plurality of speeds, means spaced along the trackway :tor settingsaid speed limit device for a de-.

termined speed, and other means along the trackway for operating said speed limit device. 1

i 9. In combination, a railway vehicle, electrically-operated vehicle controlling means thereon, a circuit for controlling said vehicle controlling means and cooperating circuit controllers for said circuit, means controlled by the speed of the vehicle connected to one of said circuitvcontrollers, and means connected to the other of said circuit controllers for determining the speed at which the vehicle may run.

10. In combination, a vehicle, electricallyoperated vehicle controlling means thereon, a circuit for controlling said vehicle controllingmeans, circuit controllers in said circuit,

'a speed governor on said vehicle for operating one of said circuit controllers, and a device on said vehicle for determining the speed at which the vehicle may run, for operating the other of said circuit controllers.

11. In combination, a railWay velncle, vehicle controlling means thereon, means for controlling said vehicle controlling means comprising a speed-controlled part and a speed limit. device positioned upon said yehicle, means along the trackway for setting said speed limit device for any oneofa plurality of different speeds, and other means second named controller, a member for controlling the movement or said second named circuit controller when released, an electrical translating device having a part whose movement'is proportional to the strength of current passing therethrough connected to said member, means on the vehicle normally holding said member in a set position, means along the trackway, for releasing said memher and momentarily energizing said elec-, trical translating device, and other means along the trackway for simultaneously releasing'said second named circuit controller and said member and for also momentarily energizing said electrical translating device. 1 13. In combination, a railway vehicle, vehicle controlling means thereon, an electrical speed indicator on said vehicle having a pointer Whose movement is proportional to the strength of current passing therethrough, means for controlling said vehicle controlling means comprising a part controlled by the speed of the vehicle and a speed limit device, means controlled by-said speed limit device for actuating said speed indicator, and means along the trackway for controlling said speed limit device.

14. In combination, a railway vehicle, ve hicle controlling means thereon, a speed indicator on said vehicle, speed controlled means on said vehicle, and means along, the trackway defining a definite space interval cooperating with said speed controlled means to set said speed controlled means for a determined speed and to set the speed indicator for a corresponding s eed and for thereafter actuating said vehic e controlling means if the speed of the vehicle is not reduced to within the speed limit set, within the definite space interval.

In witness whereof I subscribe my signature. 

